Thinkings

These Things Are Much Better Than Spending Time on Résumé

Preface I have been reviewing a lot of literature related to the job market in software engineering and analysing what stands apart and what gets rejected. While writing this article, I am at a very young age and I am very grateful to say that I had an opportunity to interview people for hiring them into a startup, despite my role as a DevSecOps intern (I was that one multi-tasking startup guy).

You Need to Do this to Get An Unfair Advantage in the Software Engineering Market

Preface: This article is about my experiences and opinions based on my knowledge. We all have an unfair advantage since we all are unique and using that to get better in the market would take you much further. I have been working with software for like a few years while being a university student and learnt a lot from all the amazing people I worked with and followed. While I put down things that I learnt, it has to be noted that your opinions and experiences may vary and I greatly respect that.

The Future of Work and Lifestyle - The Inevitable Change in Thinking and Growth

The Current System of Workspace Working for a company or an organisation to become financially stable surely makes you and your family proud, and certainly, when you were in the 90s, that’s what most people termed as widely successful. It’s absolutely important to make money to have a nice home and send your kids to a good school. And most of the time that works and maybe certainly enough. This method of surviving has dominated for a while now and has shaped the current workspace.

There are always Flaws — Malware Development and Exploitation of Control Flow

Disclaimer: The Author of the article does not hold any opinions of facts other than computer technology. Everything here is as per my research and may not be fully accurate (although I tried my best). He is a very simple person and a computer nerd so information in this blog must be taken with a pinch of salt. I have been studying Cyber Security since an early age and know a few things about it till now.

An Old Computer’s Teachings — Why Vintage Systems Can Make You an Expert

On June 10 1997, Apple Computers released the Apple 2 computer which was one of the first mass-produced computers in the world. It was a success and had a sale of 5–6 million units till the year of 1993. There was a small documentary on this by Bloomberg Originals (here on YouTube) about the same with Steve Wozniak. Now I am not a 90’s kid or something. I was born in the year 2004 and had no connection with these computers.

A Minimalist System — Philosophy Behind Terminal-based Applications to Suckless

Since I have been using Linux for most of my life till now and while I started my computer usage on the Windows Operating System (at a very early age), terminal-based programs have been a life-changing things for me. I have been a person obsessed with minimalism and simplicity in everything. While I spend most of my day in the cyber world, I like to have my computer workspace as minimal as possible.

The Alchemy of Open-Source Software — Community and Freedom

Disclaimer — The following blog post contains the very personal opinions of the writer and is not intended beyond the scope of stating views about the Open-Source. The author respects the opinions of each individual so take it with a pinch of salt. Open-source software has been there for a long time since the software industry started to get into some shape. Open-source is not just a way of developing software but a value that makes individuals in the community contribute to making their skills useful to the world.

The Arch Linux Tales: No Wi-Fi for Today!

I have been using Arch Linux for days now for the sake of having full control over the hardware as well as the software (not moved to LibreBoot or CoreBoot but someday in the future). I have been utilising the suckless utilities and ricing my system for the best look I can have and take the privilege of saying “I use Arch BTW”. Since the total control of the Hardware and Software falls in the hands of the user and Arch repository Pacman releases even the latest packages, way before the software is even stable creating a sensation of being the early user of the tool at the same time being ready to crash out the system.

A Minimalist System — Philosophy Behind Terminal-based Applications to Suckless

Planted January 14, 2024

Since I have been using Linux for most of my life till now and while I started my computer usage on the Windows Operating System (at a very early age), terminal-based programs have been a life-changing things for me. I have been a person obsessed with minimalism and simplicity in everything. While I spend most of my day in the cyber world, I like to have my computer workspace as minimal as possible. For the start of getting a minimal operating system as well as a laptop so minimal that it has only 3 holes and 1 socket for charging, the Macbook Air M2. This was a great laptop to me, given that the macOS is so minimal by design and the hardware itself is simple and minimal. But while using the MacBook, I figured out that I use my MacBook through my terminal. I started realising how easy it is to interact with the computer with a terminal, nearly for every purpose. Finally, after some time, I got my old PC which had some decent specs [16GB RAM + AMD Ryzen 2400G + 512GB SSD], I started using Arch as my go-to Operating System. Arch by design is a Simple and Minimal Operating System.

The answer behind why I admire simplicity and minimalism is that I am a person who likes to get things done with less effort, fast-paced and as smoothly as I can. Computers have been using terminals for a long time now, even before the GUI (Graphical User Interface) came into the picture. Since GUI provides a very good and easy-to-operate kind of feeling, in a visually appealing way. On the other hand, terminals can look intimidating at times, especially for a beginner. But I would like to clear out a fact: Simple and Minimal does not mean it’s always gonna look easy. It may be easy for the user but does not guarantee that it will be easy for others to do.

MacOS has a great visual appeal to it and a very user-friendly usage interface. But the fact that it’s constrained a lot is kind of not a very useful thing at least for me. Like I remember once I wanted to get a transparent clock widget but didn’t find the way I needed it to be. To do that, I would have to go through the whole process of learning Swift Programming Language and then take time to develop it on my own. But that too doesn’t mean that I can use it as I want. The fact that I love going to the low levels of the computer and when you have such a constrained device, it is very hard to get the exact freedom of usage I need. But that’s something I believe is justified for that fact the MacBooks are so optimised for their applications and probably Apple doesn’t want some naively written C code to make the system slower and consume more battery. They have good control over their own Swift Language so I think it’s good for the sake of the organisation’s reputation and the user’s usability. So I love MacBooks anyway and I would probably keep using them.

Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window — Steve Wozniak

But the fact that somehow you need to have control over your device is also necessary given that if you are a computer nerd or a person who knows computers in great depth. And when it comes to a user-controlled Operating System, Linux is always the go-to choice (you have good access to the kernel you use so no complaints in the software-hardware interaction too.). For me, I use Arch (btw) which I believe is very much minimal and user-controlled. All the tools that you have in it are in your control and if you are like me, I believe in Open-Source tools to have transparency, you would have a usable and efficient system.

Operating Systems like Linux have a huge number of terminal-based applications and when combined with an OS like Arch, it goes even more seamless. Like now I don’t have to go out and look for a lot of widgets. I can make my own or have an Open-Source Widget and modify it as I need. Now that’s freedom. Systems like these are lightweight, they can do multi-tasking much more efficiently and as much as you need as each task is now relatively small for the computer. Using Terminal-based applications makes the CPU process less of the GUI that you don’t even care about using anyway. The fact that you know what you want to do and how to do it, you don’t need a GUI to run the program. Even TUI (Terminal User Interface) is good when the steps are too complex for commands and are universal enough (and given that you are nerdy enough). TUI applications like the ranger are very handy and have replaced the GUI file managers from my system. Creating aliases for Linux systems is also very useful, for example, I need to enter “f” in the terminal to skim over my file structure. These are some very small details that save a lot of time when you have a muscle memory built into your hand that you don’t have to think about before typing the command.

You may have seen geeks around using their keyboards and remembering all the shortcuts for it. Like just to send an E-mail, they use the terminals and type long commands. Taking a lot of pain to edit a single file with Vim. But that’s not the case. I use NeoVim (a better and expandable way of using Vim) for my daily use and even for the development of the company I am working as an Intern for. I have been a VScode user in the past and can confirm that using NeoVim has been better for me than the VScode (or any other editor). It’s just the fact that I don’t have to lift my hand from the keyboard to access the mouse is a great relief and faster to get things done.

Muscle memory plays an important role here while learning these things. I highly recommend having a system based on your preferences and your gesture for ease of use. Having a muscle memory for each task and what fits your hand best is amazing. It just takes time to get yourself moulded into it. It took me about a month to get comfortable with the smooth flow of NeoVim, but once I did, it was incredible. I am trying to go to the extent of using my custom keyboard one day, split into two and with the key layout of my choice.

It takes time to master, but no time to start. Once done, you feel like the one in control of the computer.